Jim points his bat in the direction of the cafe.
SELENA: We've got enough food.
JIM: We don't have any cheeseburgers. (to himself) Stay close? It's like going on holiday with your fucking aunt.
INT. CAFE - DAY: Jim walks inside the cafe, and finds the aftermath of carnage. Decomposed bodies lie scattered, on and under tables: a couple of men, a female cook, and a young family. Jim walks towards the family. The father sits wedged between the seats and the table, which are both bolted to the floor. His neck is snapped, head hanging backwards. The mother lies a couple of feet away, on the floor, half over an infant, as if in a final protective gesture. Jim looks down at them. Then there is a noise behind.
Instinctively Jim snaps around, swinging the bat as he does so - and connects against a small body, which flies backwards. Only then do we - and Jim - see what he has hit. Crumpled, motionless on the ground is an Infected Kid, an eight year old boy. A moment. Jim looks stunned, appalled. Then the Infected Kid's eyes flick open. Still alive. Jim's baseball bat swings down.
EXT. TRUCK - DAY: The can is full. Frank removes the tube. Jim appears.
SELENA: Find anything.
Jim says nothing.
SELENA: Find anything, Jim?
JIM: No.
Selena lets it pass - and the moment is broken as Frank stands with the can.
FRANK: Okay. We're done.
He lifts a hand to Hannah.
INT. CAB - DAY: Hannah smiles, turns the ignition, and throws the cab into gear.
EXT. FORECOURT - DAY: The cab tears towards Jim, Selena and Frank, then - at the last moment - flips into a handbrake turn, and drifts to a neat stop, a couple of meters from them.
HANNAH: (leaning out of the window) I am a cab driver's daughter.
FRANK: You're Ayrton Senna's bloody daughter.
INT. CAB - DAY: The cab drives down the motorway, fuel needle pressed up against the full mark. The meter runs up a tab of over three hundred pounds...
EXT. CAB - DAY: They pass a sign for MANCHESTER - 130 MILES.
INT. CAB - DAY: The occupants have settled into the reflective silence of a long drive. Selena seems lost in thought. She looks at Jim, who has his hand stuck out the window, and is using his hand like an aerofoil, catching the wind, dipping and rising. Then she looks at Frank, and notices......Frank glance in the rear-view mirror at Hannah, who catches her dad's eye. Frank smiles, and gives her a wink.
EXT. CAB - DAY: The cab drives along A-roads.
INT. CAB - LATE AFTERNOON: Jim is looking through some of the bags of food.
JIM: Who's unbelievably hungry?
ALL: Me.
Jim looks out of the window. They are in completely empty, rolling countryside, stretching for miles.
JIM: Let's have a picnic.
EXT. PICNIC SPOT - LATE AFTERNOON: They have stopped in a beautiful spot, quite high, clear view. It is a beautiful day. The late afternoon sunshine is bright over the green fields, trees cast long shadows. Everyone is happily sat on the grass, eating from their hoard. Jim has pulled open a packet of stale hot-cross bun; Hannah empties a packet of Maltesers into her mouth; Frank holds a block of cheddar, taking bites from the cheese as if it were cake; Selena drinks from a can of tinned peaches, swallowing the pieces almost whole, with the juice running down her chin.
SELENA: Oh my God, yes. I can taste the vitamin C. I can feel it in my blood.
JIM: (cracking a bun in half) These are great. They're like huge biscuits.
He offers half to Hannah, who takes a bite.
HANNAH: It's true. They are like biscuits.
JIM: (completely unintelligible, mouth full, spraying crumbs) An de phraisins ar phrill moipht.Hannah and Selena laugh.
HANNAH: (to Jim) What did you say?
JIM: (swallowing) I said, the raisins are still moist.
Selena and Hannah laugh again.
FRANK: Hey.
Everyone turns.
FRANK: Look over there.
Some distance away, in the fields below, a group of three horses - two adults and a foal - are galloping over the fields as if wild. A majestic and surreal sight, and it somehow implies the way the world will change.
HANNAH: Do you think they're infected?
FRANK: No. I think they're doing just fine.
EXT. FIELDS - LATE AFTERNOON: The horses gallop, leaping a stone wall, and away.
EXT. PICNIC SPOT - SUNSET: The meal has been eaten. Frank sits, playing with his radio, trying to listen to the faint broadcast. Beside him, Hannah lies on her back, eyes closed.
EXT. FENCE GATE - SUNSET: Jim and Selena have walked a little distance away from the others, and are sitting on a fence gate, looking over the view.
JIM: You know what I was thinking?
Selena considers this a moment.
SELENA: You were thinking that you'll never hear another piece of original music ever again. You'll never read a book that isn't already written. Or see a film that isn't already shot.
Jim smiles.
JIM: That's what you were thinking.
SELENA: No... I was thinking I was wrong.
JIM: About what?
Selena doesn't reply for a moment. Then she turns to look at Frank and Hannah - who look oddly normal, surrounded by the food wrappers from the picnic, Frank listening to the radio.
SELENA: All the death, all the shit - it doesn't really mean anything for Frank and Hannah. Because she's got her dad, and he's got his daughter, so... it's okay.
A beat.
SELENA: (looking back at Jim) I was wrong when I told you that staying alive is as good as it gets.
JIM: (smiles)That's what I was thinking.
SELENA: ...Was it?
JIM: Uh-huh. You stole my thought.
Selena leans over and gives Jim a light kiss on the cheek.
SELENA: (smiling back at Jim) Sorry.
JIM: (slightly surprised, but pleased) Ah, keep it.
EXT. PICNIC SPOT - SUNSET: Frank switches off the radio. He looks over at Hannah, who is dozing peacefully, then over to Jim and Selena.
FRANK: (calling) It's getting late. We should stay here the night. Jim raises a hand in reply.
EXT. CAB/PICNIC SPOT - NIGHT: The cab sits, parked up at the picnic spot. Jim, Selena, Frank and Hannah lie beside it, wrapped in their jackets, using their small backpacks as pillows.The moon is bright, and only Selena is asleep...
HANNAH: Can't sleep.
JIM: Nor can I. It doesn't feel safe, outdoors like this.
FRANK: I think we're safe enough.
A couple of moments pass.
HANNAH: ...Selena didn't seem to have any trouble.
JIM: I know. I noticed that too. (reaching over and shaking Selena's shoulder) Selena...Selena!
SELENA: (extremely drowsy) What... what is it...
JIM: How did you manage to get to sleep?
Selena gives a dozy grumble, then sits up, reaches into her backpack, and pulls out several bottles of pills. She hands one of them to Jim.
FRANK: Bloody hell. You must have needed a hell of a prescription for that lot.
SELENA: (drowsy) I didn't need a prescription. I'm a qualified chemist.
She drops back down and goes straight back to sleep.
JIM: (inspecting the bottle) Valium. Great. Not only will it get us to sleep, but if we get attacked during the night, we won't even care. (pops the lid) Two each?
FRANK: Not for me, thanks.
JIM: (indicating Hannah) What about...?
HANNAH: Can I, Dad?
FRANK: (doubtful) I don't know, honey.
HANNAH: Da-ad, plee-ease. I can't sleep.
FRANK: All right, all right. Give her half of one.
FADE TO: JIM's VALIUM DREAM: Jim is riding his bike through the city. It's London back to normal, pre-infection. Busy streets, traffic, pedestrians, car horns, radios playing. Jim rides fast, his courier bag over his shoulder, weaving between cars, shooting a red light, turning a corner into...Gower Street. Suddenly, a car pulls out into Jim's path. The car brakes hard, and Jim brakes hard, skidding......and the two miss each other by a whisker. The Driver flashes into road rage.
THE DRIVER: You stupid cunt!
JIM: Fuck you!
The Driver flips Jim the finger, and accelerates away. Jim remains stopped by the pavement, one foot down for balance, breathing hard. Pedestrians pass. Groups of people, everyday people, walking by. Jim watches them, noticing their faces. Some talk to each other, or into mobile phones. Some smile, or walk lost in thought. After a few moments, Jim sets off again, seemingly distracted, still watching pedestrians? faces...then two of the faces seem to catch his attention. A man and a woman, middle-aged, chatting. His parents. Jim's head turns as he passes them, confusion on his face, his bike drifting into another lane......into the path of a second car. The car that hit him.
CUT TO: EXT. CAB/PICNIC SPOT - NIGHT:
FRANK: (quietly) Hey.
Frank's hand is on Jim's shoulder. Jim stirs, half-wakes.
JIM: (confused, semi-conscious) What...
Frank is sitting beside him - and we see for the first time that Frank is awake, keeping guard over them while they sleep.
FRANK: Shh. You're having a bad dream, That's all.
Jim's face relaxes a little.
JIM: (mumbled, half-asleep already)Okay, Dad.
Frank raises his eyebrows, then smiles.
EXT. CAB/PICNIC SPOT - EARLY MORNING: Jim is sitting up. The others are all awake. Frank bouncing the repaired flat tire to check it, Hannah slipping on a fresh sweatshirt from her backpack, Selena leaning against the cab, chewing on a chocolate bar.
JIM: Here you go, Frank. This is how you catch dew. I'm covered in the fucking stuff.
FRANK: (packing the spare away) Okay. Let's get rolling. (he checks his watch) If we make good time, we'll be there before midday.
EXT. MOTORWAY - DAY: The cab is driving, towards us, then slows to a halt.
INT. CAB - DAY: Everyone is looking at something ahead of them. They seem awestruck.
JIM: Bloody hell...
FRANK: It must be Manchester.
JIM: But, the whole of Manchester. The whole city...
SELENA: No fire crews to put it out. We see what they are looking at...
EXT. CAB - DAY: On the horizon ahead, there is the glow of a truly massive fire. The smoke spreads into the sky like the plume from a vast, spreading volcano crater. The city burning.
INT. CAB - DAY: The cab drives towards the surreal sight. As they drive, pale flakes begin to fall, drifting past the windows.
JIM: It can't be...
HANNAH: Is it snow?
FRANK: (hitting the windscreen wipers) It's ash.
EXT. CAB - DAY - ASH FALL: The cab drives through the ash fall. Through the soft blizzard, they pass a sign for: MANCHESTER - 14 MILES (in the opposite lane). The city is behind them.
EXT. MOTORWAY - DAY - ASH FALL: The cab drives down a motorway. The ash is still falling, and they start to pass bodies by the roadside.
INT. CAB - DAY - ASH FALL: Inside the cab there is a sense of real anticipation. Everyone is sitting up, scanning the road ahead. Then they come over the brow of a hill, and the ash-fall clears like mist parting, to reveal...
FRANK: Okay, everyone. I think this is it.
EXT. MOTORWAY - DAY: Fifty meters down, the road is blockaded. It is obviously a military construction - hurriedly put together, but expertly built.Behind rolls of razor wire are fifteen foot sheets of corrugated iron, held upright by scaffold pipes. In the middle of the blockade there is a gap wide enough to get a vehicle through, but concrete blocks force a chicane. On either side of the road there are sandbag nests. On the corrugated iron, white painted words read: 42ND BLOCKADE. But despite the impressive construction, there is no sign of movement or life.
INT. CAB - DAY
JIM: Try the horn.
SELENA: Don't. We might attract the wrong kind of attention.
EXT. 42ND BLOCKADE - DAY: The cab rolls slowly towards the blockade - past many more bodies, Infected, rotting. It reaches the chicane, and eases around the concrete blocks. Then it passes through the gap in the corrugated barrier. On the other side of the blockade, canvas tents have been erected on the grass verge, and two transporter trucks are parked. A few packing crates and tarpaulins are also scattered around. But still no signs of life. The blockade appears to have been abandoned.Franks slows to a halt, but keeps the engine running.
INT. CAB - DAY:
FRANK: What do you think?
JIM: It looks deserted.
SELENA: Or overrun.
Frank flicks the radio on - there is only static. He switches it off again.
FRANK: Let's check it out.
EXT. 42ND BLOCKADE - DAY: Everyone exits the cab, holding their various weapons. Jim has his baseball bat, Selena has her machete, and Frank has his lead pipe...Cautiously, they begin to explore. They first head over to the grass verge and the tents. In front of one of them, Hannah picks up a Bergen backpack. She upends it, and a few clothes fall out.Frank moves past her, and carefully pulls back the tent flaps - machete at the ready. Inside, there is a small table, and maps and papers are strewn across the floor. And a radio.
HANNAH: I don't understand. Did they leave?
Jim pushes open the flaps of another tent with his baseball bat.
JIM: They didn't all leave.
Inside, several body bags lie, buzzing with flies.Selena stands several feet away, by one of the packing cases. She pulls out a tangle of camouflage webbing, then lets it drop back inside.
SELENA: I don't like this. I think we should go.
FRANK: (suddenly snapping) No! (composes himself) The vehicles. We should check the vehicles first. There has to be something...
EXT. VEHICLES - DAY: Frank jumps down from the back of one of the trucks. Like the others, like everything else it is empty.
FRANK: Nothing. Nothing here. I can't believe it.
SELENA: Frank.
FRANK: "We should go."?
SELENA: Yes.
FRANK: (exploding) Go fucking where? What the fuck are we supposed to do? How is this going to fucking end? It's never going to -
Frank cuts himself off. Then, turning from the others, he walks away.
EXT. BLOCKADE - DAY: Frank walks underneath the archway of one of the blockade structures, and sits down. Needing to be alone. His head sinks, staring at the ground beneath his legs. A couple of moments later he looks up - and sees that sitting opposite of him, on the other side of the archway, almost mirroring his posture and position, is a dead Infected. The corpse of the Infected sits gazing back at Frank with sightless eyes.
A moment between the two of them. A blank-faced exchange. Frank looks left and sees the corpse of another Infected, a few feet beyond the blockade. And another, beyond it. And another, a few more feet to the right. Then Frank looks upwards. Above him, on the walkway of the blockade, another corpse lies. And this corpse is swarmed with crows, picking at it. Frank gets up.
FRANK: (under his breath) Get out it. (suddenly shouting) GET OUT OF IT!
He bends, picks up a rock and throws it, but misses, sailing past them. In a rage again, Frank goes under the blockade and starts to kick it. The scaffold clangs, vibrates, and - startled - the crows lift off from the mutilated corpse and fly... ...dislodging, or disrupting, a single droplet of blood from the corpse, that rolls off the neck, and begins to fall downwards. Down... to where Frank gazes upwards. The droplet splashes, pinpoint perfect, on Frank's eye. Frank frowns, his hand immediately going to his face. The fingers come away, with the tiny smear of red.
HANNAH: Dad... are you okay?
Frank turns. Hannah is there, with Jim. Selena stands a little way further back.
FRANK: I... I'm fine, honey. I'm sorry. I just lost my temper. I...
He breaks off.
HANNAH: ...What?
Frank frowns. A hand goes to his temple.
FRANK: Hannah...
Abruptly, the color is draining from his face.
FRANK: (to Hannah)Get away from me.
HANNAH: ...Dad?
FRANK: Get away from me!(to Jim)Get her away from me!
HANNAH: (moving to Frank) Why? What's...
Frank lashes out and shoves Hannah away, knocking her back to the ground.
FRANK: GET AWAY FROM ME!.
A trickle of blood runs out of Frank's nose. Then he doubles up, clutching the side of his head. He screams with pain.
SELENA: Jim... (breaking into a run) Jim, he's infected!
HANNAH: No! No!
Hannah lunges towards her dad, but is caught by Selena.
SELENA: (holding Hannah back)Jim!
But Jim is frozen, holding his baseball bat. Frank screams again. Then drops to his knees. Hannah struggles with Selena, trying to get to Frank.
HANNAH: Dad!
SELENA: Jim!
Jim is still frozen, baseball bat half-raised.
SELENA: KILL HIM!
And Frank looks up, his face contorted. The infection has taken hold. And at that moment there is a rifle report, a rush of air, and a rapid thump of impact. Frank falls forwards to the tarmac. A moment of silence.
HANNAH: ...Dad?
Selena lets Hannah go. Suddenly, the GUNFIRE comes again. Three shots in quick succession - into Frank's motionless body. In a daze, Hannah starts towards her dead father.
CLIFTON: STAY AWAY FROM HIM!
They all turn to see three British soldiers standing by a jeep. One of the soldiers (Farrell) advances, with his gun still raised, while the others (Mitchell and Clifton) hold back giving cover.
FARRELL: Get away from the man! NOW!
Jim steps towards Hannah and grabs her, pulling her away from Frank's body. She doesn't struggle. She is in a state of absolute shock.
SELENA: (quietly)Jesus.
EXT. ROAD - DAY: A jeep drives down a small road - away from the blockade. Jim, Selena and Hannah sit in the back. Behind is the cab, driven by the Sergeant. A little way ahead of them, the walled grounds of a huge country mansion appear.
EXT. FRONT DRIVEWAY - DAY: From a cast-iron gated entrance, a gravel driveway leads up to the impressive country mansion, surrounded by a high perimeter wall. The grounds show acres of lawn and flower beds. These have obviously had many years of very careful cultivation and attention, but now are just starting to look unkempt and overgrown.
The jeep pulls up by the front steps. Waiting there is another soldier, a major. Like the other soldiers, he is unshaven, but has the authority of command about him, even in the relaxed way that he stands. As Jim, Selena and Hannah dismount from the jeep, he appraises them. Then speaks.
HENRY: I'm Major Henry West. Welcome. We've got beds with clean sheets and a boiler that produces hot water. So you can all have a shower. You look like you need one.
Jim, Selena, and tear-streaked Hannah gaze back at Henry blankly.
INT. SHOWER - DAY: Jim has a shower, sees the cab driving round in circles outside the shower window, then...
INT. MANSION - DAY: Jim walks down a sweeping staircase to the front hall. Scattered around are various bits of military gear. A pair of muddy boots, a jacket, assorted kit, webbing, etc.
EXT. VERANDA - DAY: Henry is sitting, looking out over the back lawn.Pulling back, we see Jim is with him.
HENRY: You heard our broadcast.
JIM: Yes.
HENRY: We must be a disappointment. You were hoping for a full brigade. An army base, with helicopters and field hospitals.
JIM: We were hoping for...
HENRY: The answer to infection. Well, as I said, it's here. Though it may not be quite what you imagined.
JIM: I didn't know what to imagine, so... We just feel lucky to have found you.
HENRY: You were lucky. The fire drove hundreds of infected out of Manchester. The surrounding area is teeming with them.
Henry glances back at Jim.
HENRY: But there's no need for you to worry. We're well protected here.
EXT. GARDEN - DAY: Henry shows Jim around the grounds.
HENRY: Three-sixty visibility. Flat terrain all around the house... Floodlights, which we'e rigged up to a generator. Don't like to waste the fuel, but when we want to, we can turn night into day. Moving on...
HENRY: High perimeter wall, which helps, and we've been lacing the grounds with trip wires and land mines.
Henry indicates where Farrell, Smith and Davis can be seen, running a trip wire.
HENRY: You wouldn't want to go mowing the lawn, but if they get in, we hear them.
INT. MANSION - LOWER LEVELS - DAY: Henry leads Jim into the basement level of the mansion.
HENRY: Secondary to protection, our real job is to rebuild. Start again. Down here is the wood-fired boiler that provides us with hot water. Our first step to civilization. Then to a kitchen...
HENRY: And here, the kitchen.
INT. MANSION - KITCHEN - DAY: Several of the soldiers are unpacking the food bags from the cab. One of the soldiers, Jones, is wearing an apron.
HENRY: What are you cooking, Jones?
JONES: It's a surprise, sir!
EXT. MAILER's PIT - DAY: Henry leads Jim into a small courtyard, hanging with bloodstained laundry.
HENRY: And finally...
The laundry starts to billow - and with it we hear the sound of rushing movement. As a darkly stained sheet is ripped aside, an Infected is revealed only a few feet away. Jim jumps back, but Henry stays put - as the Infected is suddenly jerked backwards by a chain around its neck.
HENRY: ...meet Mailer.
Mailer is uniformed. A soldier. Apart from the chain around his neck, he is gagged with a filthy and blood-blackened rag tied tight into his mouth.
HENRY: Mailer, Jim. Jim, Mailer. Got infected three days ago. Mitchell managed to knock him out cold. Got a chain around his neck.
JIM: You're keeping him alive?
HENRY: The idea was to learn something about infection. Have him teach me.
JIM: And has he?
HENRY: In a way. (kneels) He's teaching me he'll never bake bread. Plant crops, raise livestock. He's telling me he's futureless. And eventually he'll tell me how long the infected take to starve to death.
A moment.
HENRY: Dinner's at seven. Don't forget to tell the girls.
Henry exits, leaving Jim with Mailer. Mailer lunges at Jim - a moment between them. Then Jim exits.
INT. GIRLS' BEDROOM - DAY: Carefully, Jim opens the door to the girls' bedroom. Inside is Hannah lying on the bed, face covered, on her side. Selena lies behind her, her arm lying protectively over Hannah's body. Selena looks around, sees Jim, and puts a finger to her lips.
INT. JIM's BEDROOM - NIGHT: Jim and Selena enter, and close the door.
JIM: ...So how is she?
SELENA: She's lost her dad. That's how she is. (a moment) It's all fucked, Jim.
Suddenly Selena looks as if she's on the verge of tears.
JIM: Hey, don't...do that. Look, Hannah... Hannah's what Frank said she was. Tough. Strong. And just like me, just like you, she will cope...
SELENA: Shut up, Jim. Just shut up. I don't want her to fucking cope. I want her to be okay. And when Hannah had her dad, it was all okay. Remember? And when it was okay for them, it was okay for us. And now it's all fucked.
Then Selena's tears are flowing. Jim seems to want to reply, but doesn't have the words. Instead, he lifts Selena's face and kisses her on the lips...... a moment. Then Selena pushes him a away. Selena leaves the room.
INT. MANSION - DINING ROOM - NIGHT: A surreal scene. Dinner, with full silver service, candles, wine and crystal glasses, napkins, and everyone rather formally sitting while Jones lays food on the table, wearing an apron over his uniform. Made all the more surreal by Jim and Selena's grubby clothes, and Hannah's dazed, tear-streaked face.
HENRY: So, what have we here? Tinned ham, tinned peas, and omelette. You've prepared a feast, Jones.
JONES: Honor of our guests, sir.
HENRY: Absolutely. I was going to suggest a toast, but this omelette will do just as well. (cuts off a chunk of omelette and raises it) To new friends.
Henry pops the omelette in his mouth, then promptly spits it out.
HENRY: Jones, did you notice while cooking that these eggs are off?
JONES: I thought the salt might cover the taste, sir.
HENRY: (pushing his plate away)Get rid of it.
Henry turns to Hannah as Jones sheepishly exits, carrying the omelette.
HENRY: I don't suppose you can cook, can you? I can't tell you how badly we need someone who shows a little flair in the kitchen.
Hannah ignore/is unaware of Henry's attempt to bring her out of her shell. Meanwhile, the soldiers start helping themselves to the other food on the table.
DAVIS: That's a fucking disappointment. When I saw those eggs, I thought it was Christmas.
BELL: We'll have eggs again. Once everything's back to normal.
The soldiers pause. Exchange glances. Then burst out laughing.
MITCHELL: Listen to him! He's still waiting for Marks and Spencer's to reopen.
More laughter at Bell - interrupted by the sergeant, Farrell, who conspicuously is not joining in.
FARRELL: I think Bell's got a point. If you look at the whole life of the planet, man has only been around for a few blinks of an eye. So if the infection wipes us all out, that is a return to normality.
Farrell turns to Bell.
FARRELL: Is that what you meant, Bell?
BELL: Uh...yeah.
HENRY: (to Jim and Selena) Have you met our new-age sergeant? (to Farrell) Remind me, Farrell, why exactly did you join the army in the first place.
A moment.
HENRY: This is what I've seen in the four weeks since infection. People killing people. Which is much what I saw in the four weeks before infection, and the four weeks before that, and before that, as far back as I care to remember... People killing people. Which to my mind puts us in a state of normality right now.
Selena turns to Hannah.
SELENA: (quiet) You're not eating.
HANNAH: I don't want to eat.
Henry picks up on their exchange.
HENRY: You must eat, Hannah.
HANNAH: I don't want to eat. I want to bury my dad. He's one of the people you're talking about.
A silence over the dinner table. Broken by the thud of a mine detonation. Then...
FARRELL: Stand to!
And suddenly all the soldiers are kicking back their chairs, jumping to their feet. Producing SA-80's that they had under the table.
EXT. MANSION - NIGHT: Farrell, Jones, Mitchell, Bedford, Smith and Clifton race out of the house, fanning, dropping into position.
MITCHELL: Go, go, go!
Two more soldiers, Davis and Bell, fire from window positions on the mansion's first floor.
FARRELL: Jones! Cover right!
SMITH: Three o'clock!Three o'clock!
Coming across the grounds are four Infected, sprinting across the lawn towards the house. Immediately, one of them is catapulted into the air by an explosion under its feet - a mine. The soldiers open fire, Jones closing his eyes as he pulls the trigger. The three remaining Infected are cut down - one hit in the head by Smith, another folding under a burst from Farrell, the last falling under fire from Mitchell, landing face down on a mine which explodes onto its chest. Chunks of Infected spin into the air, then patter down like a light rain.
MITCHELL: (delighted) That was mad! Did you see that! That was fucking mad!
FARRELL: (angry) Clear!
JONES: Clear.
MITCHELL: (still laughing) Clear. (to Jones) Fuck me, I never saw that before. Keeled over and - bam! Gone, like fucking magic.
SMITH: I drew a lovely bead. One shot. Right between its eyes.
INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT: Jim stands, looking out of the open French windows at the soldiers. Selena is standing behind him. She is holding her machete. The soldiers bounce in. Mitchell and Smith in particular are hyped from their adrenaline rush.
MITCHELL: It was all hanging in the air, and all these bits coming down, and...
Mitchell catches sight of Selena holding her machete.
MITCHELL: Hello.
He heads towards her, and takes the machete from her hands.
MITCHELL: I'll tell you what: you don't need this penknife any more, sweetie. I'm here to protect you now. (winks at the other soldiers) But listen, if you want to hold a huge chopper...
Bedford bursts out laughing, and Selena grabs her machete back.
MITCHELL: Whoa! Feisty!
He gives her a slap on the backside.
SELENA: Fuck you!
MITCHELL: You bet. How about right now?
Now doubly hyped. Mitchell reaches forward and pulls up the hem of Selena's T-shirt. She yelps and twists, knocking back his hand.
MITCHELL: Yeah! A little rough stuff! FARRELL!
But Farrell clearly has little command over Mitchell, who tries again for Selena's T-shirt, still laughing. Jim snaps.
JIM: (angrily grabbing Mitchell) Cut it out!
And Mitchell turns immediately on Jim, his sexual charge flipping seamlessly back to violence.
MITCHELL: (grabbing Jim, propelling him back across the room, up against a wall) Easy, tiger. You don't want to go picking a fight with me.
Suddenly Farrell is behind Mitchell. We see a movement (a kidney punch), and Mitchell drops.
MITCHELL: (gasping, on the ground) Ahh, you cunt. Cunt.
Then - as if through sixth sense, sensing a presence, all turn. Henry is standing in the doorway. A moment. Then Henry turns to Mitchell - who has picked himself up, and is clutching his side, breathing hard.
HENRY: Corporal, first point of order after an attack.
MITCHELL: Re-secure the perimeter, sir.
HENRY: Then get to it. Jones, Bedford, go with him. (to Farrell) Sergeant.
FARRELL: (tightly) Sir.
HENRY: Clear the bodies off the lawn. The rest of you go with him.
The soldiers exit, leaving only Jim, Henry and Selena in the room. Selena is shaken, and won't meet Jim's eyes. Henry hands Selena her machete back.
HENRY: My apologies.
Selena takes the machete and exits, but Jim doesn't follow. Obviously there is something he wants to say to Henry.
INT. STUDY ROOM - NIGHT: Jim and Henry enter the study room.
HENRY: Drink?
Henry walks over to a drinks cabinet, and pours two brandies, waiting for Jim to speak.
JIM: Look. We're grateful. Very grateful for your protection, and just to have found other people. But if we're going to stay here with you, you're going to have to stop your men from -
HENRY: Who have you killed?
JIM: (thrown) I haven't killed anyone
.Henry hands Jim his drink.
HENRY: Since it began, who have you killed? You wouldn't be alive now if you hadn't killed somebody.
A moment.
JIM: A boy. I killed a boy.
HENRY: A child?
JIM: Yes.
HENRY: But you had to. Otherwise he'd have killed you. Survival. I understand. (beat) I promised them women.
JIM: What?
HENRY: Eight days ago I found Jones with his gun in this mouth. He said he was going to kill himself because there was no future. What could I say to him? We kill all the infected or wait until they starve to death. And then what? What do nine men do except wait to die themselves? (beat) I moved us from the blockade, I set the radio broadcasting, and I promised them women. Because women mean children.
Jim turns and runs out of the room.
HENRY: And children mean a future.
INT. GIRLS' BEDROOM - NIGHT: Jim bursts into the girls' bedroom. Selena is dressed, sitting next to Hannah, who is awake.
JIM: Get up. Get up!
SELENA: Wha...
JIM: We've got to get out of here!
SELENA: But we...
JIM: (hauling them up) We're leaving. Now! NOW!
INT. MANSION STAIRS - NIGHT: Jim and the girls run down the stairs......heading for the front door. But behind it is Mitchell, waiting, holding his SA-80. Jim is hit full in the face, and blacks out. As he comes around, he can hear the sound of shouting and screaming. Farrell is backing away from other soldiers, who are closing in on him, even though his gun is raised.
FARRELL: You can't do this! You can't do this! Get back! I'll fucking slot you! I'll slot you, I fucking swear it!
But he doesn't follow his threat through. We hear him scream as the soldiers overpower him. Jim looks up, and sees Henry is kneeling over him.
HENRY: I want to give you a chance. You can be with us, or not.
Jim stares back at him. And Henry gazes at Jim, searching behind Jim's eyes. And understands what he finds.
HENRY: Okay, Jim. Okay.
Henry gives Jim's cheek a soft pat, then rises.
HENRY: (to Mitchell) Him too.
Jim's eyes flick to the side, where he sees Selena holding Hannah tightly. Selena looks down at Jim, terrified. Black screen.
FARRELL'S VOICE: He's insane.
INT. CELLAR: Jim, blindfolded, is sitting beside a radiator, to which his hands are tied. He is in a cellar. Farrell is on the other side of the small room, also tied. Jim, blind, looks around at the sound of Farrell's voice.
FARRELL: You know what they're doing, a few hundred miles from here? Across the channel, across the Atlantic, they're eating dinner. They're wondering what to watch on TV tonight. They're sleeping next to their wives.
Jim's head turns.
FARRELL: But we're here, chained to a fucking radiator because the OC has gone insane. Starting the world again when the rest of the world hasn't even fucking stopped. Think about it! How could infection cross the oceans? How could it cross the mountains and the rivers? They stopped it. And right now TVs are playing and planes are flying in the sky and the world is continuing as fucking normal. Think. Actually think about it. What would you do with a diseased little island?
A moment.
FARRELL: They quarantined us.
A moment.
FARRELL: (quiet) There is no infection. It's just people killing people. (beat) He's insane.
JIM: ... Quarantine?
Then the door to the cellar bursts open, revealing Mitchell and Jones.
EXT. TREE-LINED PATH - DAY: Mitchell and Jones are leading Jim and Farrell through a small forest at the back of the mansion garden. Time has passed. It has started raining. Both Jim and Farrell have been badly beaten. Jim's shirt is ripped. Blood runs from his nose, and from a cut on the side of his head. He seems dazed. Numbed. More by the situation than his beating.
EXT. EXECUTION GROUND - DAY: Jim and Farrell are led into a clearing. Just ahead is a high, ivy-covered brick wall - the perimeter wall of the mansion. And at the base of the wall are bodies. Stacked, tangled, swarming with flies. Jim turns, and sees Mitchell and Jones standing behind him.
FARRELL: Come on then, you fucking pansies. Do me first.
Mitchell grins, and pulls out his bayonet.
FARRELL: So you're going to stick me, Mitchell? Is that it? (to Jones) Is that how you're going to let your sergeant go out, Jones?
JONES: No, Mitch. Do it with the gun.
Mitchell ignores Jones, and starts to fix the blade to the end of his gun.
FARRELL: You're going to let him stick me, are you? Like a fucking dog?
JONES: Mitch, come on. Just shoot him.
MITCHELL: Why?
JONES: Because it's quick.
MITCHELL: So?
The bayonet fixes home with a click.
JONES: I'll shoot him, then.
MITCHELL: You fucking won't (to Farrell) Any last words?
Farrell spits in Mitchell's face.
MITCHELL: I'm going to enjoy this.
Mitchell pulls back his bayonet, and at that moment, there is an explosion of gunfire. Jones has fired and killed Farrell.As Farrell drops, the enraged Mitchell turns on Jones.
MITCHELL: You stupid cunt! What are you doing?
Mitchell knocks Jones down, putting his gun right in Jones' face.
JONES: (whirling)How did he...
They turn. Jim has vanished.From the side of the clearing, in the trees, there is the sound of sudden movement.
JONES: There!
Both men immediately set off, diving back into the foliage...A beat passes. Then, in the pile of bodies, one of them sits up......Jim. We have been looking right at him. But in the tangle of bodies, and the bloodstained clothes, his camouflage was complete.
EXT. TREES - DAY - LIGHT RAIN: Mitchell and Jones move fast, scanning, pushing through the undergrowth. Mitchell is absolutely furious. And as they run, they startle a couple of birds, which fly up from the ground, making a suspiciously familiar noise...They both have the same realization at the same moment.
EXT. EXECUTION GROUND - DAY: Mitchell and Jones burst back into the clearing, and they start firing into the bodies, emptying a full clip into the corpses.......Silence. Then Jones looks up to the ivy-colored wall...following the path of the ivy upwards, to the coiled razor wire, where a scrap of torn and bloody clothing hangs.
JONES: Oh no. We're fucked, we're fucked.
MITCHELL: No problem. He's outside. No gun. No vehicle. He's a dead man.
EXT. WOODS - DAY: Jim runs through the woods, away from the mansion. His hands are still tied. He is out of breath, frightened, jumping at every sound. Then he trips, rolls down a short slope, and when he comes to rest, he is looking upwards. Above him, there is a parting in the clouds, and through the parting is blue sky. And across the sky, bisecting the blue, is a single vapor trail. A pin-prick of silver plane. Followed by a sonic boom. As much in Jim's head as anywhere else.
CUT TO: - INT. DOOR - DAY: Close-up of a closed door, with the sounds of a struggle on the other side. Then, suddenly, Selena's voice: hard, desperate:
SELENA: You can't do this to her! She's only fourteen!
INT. DRESSING ROOM - DAY - RAIN: (Note: in the room is a large, freestanding mirror.) Hannah and Selena are cornered by Clifton, Bedford, Bell and Davis. The soldiers are hyped. Bedford pulls clothes out of a wardrobe, yanking out dresses, underwear - throwing them at the girls. Bell stands by the closed door - frightened, caught like a rabbit in the headlights between testosterone madness and the horror. And Clifton is laughing, animal-like, tearing at Selena's clothes, while Hannah is kicking and screaming - held by Davis.
Close-up on Selena: suddenly transfixed by Hannah the young girl's fight, the hopelessness. Abruptly, Selena turns, grabs Clifton's arm, and to his amazement, yanks him around. Then she kisses him on the lips. Simply, but unambiguously. Bell, Davis and Bedford watch in amazement. Selena breaks off. The frenzy has been broken by her extraordinary action - and bizarrely, so has the balance of power.
SELENA: You need to give me a moment with Hannah. Alone.
Clifton nods - he seems a little dazed.
CLIFTON: The OC. He... he wants you to...
SELENA: He wants us to dress up nice.
She picks up two of the dresses Bedford has thrown - the red dresses.
SELENA: But if you want us to change, you'll have to get out of the room.
A moment.
SELENA: (calm, powerful) It's just fucking polite.
Another moment. Then Clifton nods. Acquiesces.
CLIFTON: (to the others) Okay. Clear out.
They exit. Selena stands with Hannah, emptying pills from her Valium bottle.
SELENA: Eat them.
Hannah hesitates.
SELENA: (hard)Eat them, Hannah!
Hannah takes the handful of pills and holds them in her open palm.Then she looks to Selena.
HANNAH: Are you killing me?
A moment - maybe a single moment of tenderness, a strand of hair brushed from Hannah's face.
SELENA: No. I'm making you not care.
Locked eyes with Selena, Hannah raises the first pill to her mouth. Then the next The door behind opens - revealing the soldiers. Clifton sees what is happening.
CLIFTON: Hey! What the fuck are you doing?
Selena crams the pills into Hannah's mouth. The soldiers lunge for the girls, as Hannah tries to swallow the pills, and Selena whirls to fight them off......and at that moment, the sound of distant siren begin to rise. Everyone freezes. Then...
SELENA: Jim.
BEDFORD: He's at the blockade!
INT. MANSION - STAIRS - DAY - RAIN: The soldiers run down the stairs.
JONES: He went over the wall! We thought he'd be dead sir!
HENRY: Shut up! Davis - you're coming with me!
EXT. BLOCKADE - DAY - RAIN: Jim stands in the blockade, turning the handle of a siren. Rain is pouring down, mingling with the blood on his face.Jim stops, and the sound of the siren starts to fade away. From the motorway ahead, through the rain, a jeep is approaching.
EXT. MOTORWAY - LATE AFTERNOON - RAIN: The jeep drives fast down the motorway, and pulls up. Davis is driving and Henry stands on the back, manning the jeep's mounted machine gun.The jeep pulls up, one hundred meters from the blockade, and Henry brings the mounted machine gun to bear on the blockade.
HENRY: Okay. Let's see if we can sidestep the cat-and-mouse bullshit.
Henry opens fire.
EXT. BLOCKADE - LATE AFTERNOON - RAIN: Bullet rip through the blockade, punching holes through the vehicles, smashing through the packing crates...
EXT. MOTORWAY - LATE AFTERNOON - RAIN: Henry stops shooting. With a peal of thunder, the rain suddenly begins to flood down. The barrel of the machine gun spits and steams as the raindrops hit the hot metal.
EXT. BLOCKADE - LATE AFTERNOON - HEAVY RAIN: Davis pulls up at the outskirts of the blockade, and they get out of the truck. Henry and Davis make their way into the blockade. With a signal from Henry, the two split up.
EXT. BLOCKADE - WITH HENRY - LATE AFTERNOON - HEAVY RAIN: Henry moves through the blockade. He lets off a controlled burst of shots into the tents.
EXT. BLOCKADE - WITH DAVIS - LATE AFTERNOON - HEAVY RAIN: Stealthily, Davis searches around the trucks and tents... A flash of movement - fast, like an Infected, ducking behind one of trucks: Jim. Davis wipes the rain from his eyes, and presses forwards. Jim is nowhere to be seen. Another flash of movement, around the back of the next truck. Davis moves around the truck...but Jim is not there.
DAVIS: Fuck.
Davis turns, and sees......Jim, flying towards him, holding Frank's lead pipe, lips drawn back over his teeth in a rictus smile, murderous. He is the vision of the Infected, in his expression, his movements, the blood, everything.
EXT. BLOCKADE - WITH HENRY - LATE AFTERNOON - HEAVY RAIN: Henry turns, as if having just heard something. Perhaps a scream.
HENRY: (calling) Jim?
Another noise. This time it is unambiguously an Infected howl. Henry turns again. From down the motorway, and from the fields, he can now see the Infected. A large number, attracted by noise of the heavy machine gun, are approaching. He looses off a couple of shots at the Infected, then starts to back away to the jeep.
EXT. JEEP - LATE AFTERNOON - HEAVY RAIN: Henry runs up to the jeep. Through the rain, and the water running down the windscreen, Henry can see a figure sitting at the driver's seat.
HENRY: Davis?
The figure doesn't move. Henry approaches cautiously, gun raised, and finds......Davis sitting on the front seat, dead, his skull smashed open. Henry whirls, expecting to find Jim behind him. But there is no one there. Henry shoots again, blindly, emptying his clip at anything and everything around him. He reloads - hurriedly, hands slipping on the wet clip, betraying nervousness......and fires at a rain shadow that sweeps between two of the tents. Then his nerve is gone.
HENRY: Fine! Fine, you little bastard! Fucking die out here!
Henry hauls out Davis' body, gets into the driver's seat, turning the ignition......but nothing is happening. Henry turns the key again, desperately. The motor doesn't even turn over. Reaching under the dashboard, he pulls out a handful of wires.
HENRY: Jim.
And at the moment, an Infected slams onto the windscreen, face against the glass. Henry shouts out of surprise and anger, lifting his gun, and fires at point-blank range, through the glass, into the Infected's face. The windscreen shatters, blown outwards. And now, where our view was obscured by rain-washed glass, we can see clearly......Infected, in the blockade, coming through the downpour, running towards the jeep. Henry opens fire and cuts them down.
EXT. MAILER's PIT - NIGHT: - HEAVY RAIN: Jim appears above Mailer in his pit, and shoots off Mailer's chain.
INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT: - HEAVY RAIN: Jones stands holding his gun at Selena and Hannah, who sit on the sofas, opposite each other. Also in the room are Clifton, standing by the French windows, and Mitchell. Jones seems jumpy, a sheen of sweat on his forehead, as if sensing that things have gone seriously wrong. A flicker of lightning lights up outside.
JONES: What was that? Was that a claymore?
MITCHELL: It was lightning.
JONES: But I heard something.
A moment. Rain and wind lash the windows.
MITCHELL: I'll go and hit the floods. Take a butcher's. Girls, keep an eye on him, would you?
Mitchell exits. Jones wipes at the beads of sweat on his upper lip. And in noticeable contrast, Hannah is completely calm...
HANNAH: Those pills. I think they're having an effect. I can feel them, and... I don't feel sleepy, but...
Her sentence trails off. Then she turns to Jones.
HANNAH: (to Jones) They've been a long time.
Jones says nothing.
HANNAH: What are you going to do if they don't come back?
Jones still says nothing, but the question is clearly hitting a nerve.
HANNAH: Will you be the boss if Henry is dead? Is that the way it works?
Selena looks at Hannah quickly.
JONES: Shut up.
HANNAH: I don't think they are coming back. I think they've been killed.
JONES: I told you to shut up!
SELENA: (nervous) Hannah...
HANNAH: (flat) They're dead.
Hannah's eyes flick over Jones' shoulder, and something fleeting passes over her face.
HANNAH: You're going to be next.
At that moment, a mine detonates in the mansion grounds.
JONES: Shit!
At that moment, the floodlights power up......illuminating Mailer, just on the other side of the French windows, just behind Clifton, a split second before he smashes through.Then he does smash through.Clifton is thrown to the ground, with Mailer on top of him.
CLIFTON: Help! Shoot him! Shoot him!
Jones is hopeless, panicking - fires, and misses. Hannah watches, spaced out. Selena shakes Hannah by the shoulders, pulling Hannah upwards.
SELENA: Hannah! Hannah! We have to get out of here!
Mailer vomits blood into Clifton's face.
INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Selena and Hannah back out of the living room, through the house. Hannah is very doped up.
SELENA: Oh Jesus, Jesus, Hannah, stay with it, stay with it.
HANNAH: (relaxed, as she's yanked along) Don't worry. I feel fine. Really.
They reach the front hallway, and the front door bursts open...Mitchell, with Bedford.
MITCHELL: What the fuck's going on? What's all the shouti...
Mitchell is cut off by a high scream, from down the hall, in the direction of the living room. All turn, and see......Jones, running, screaming, out of one doorway, across the hallway. He has lost his weapon - and is chased by Mailer, but not Clifton. Like a train passing, in half a second they are out of sight. A moment. Then Mitchell explodes.
MITCHELL: (to Bedford) Don't just fucking stand there! Get after them!
INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Mailer chases Jones into the kitchen, but when he enters, Jones is nowhere to be seen. Mailer turns, and sees Bedford in the kitchen doorway, holding his gun.
BEDFORD: What the fuck are you going to do now, eh?
But just as Bedford lifts his gun to shoot Mailer...Clifton runs at him, full speed from down the corridor......and Bedford is knocked sideways by the infected Clifton.
EXT. MANSION - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Jim is at the kitchen window, looking in as Bedford is killed by Mailer and Clifton.
INT. KITCHEN - CUPBOARD - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Jones covers inside a cupboard, hearing Bedford's screams.
INT. MANSION - STAIRS - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN:
MITCHELL: (grabbing Selena) Up! Up!
Mitchell pushes the girls up the stairs. At the top of the staircase, wide-eyed with fear, is Bell.
BELL: Mitchell? What's going on?
MITCHELL: Stay here and defend these stairs with your fucking life!
He turns back to the girls, still holding Selena's arm, and Hannah is gone. Selena sees her, heading away down towards the corridor.
SELENA: Hannah! Mitchell starts pulling Selena in the opposite direction from Hannah.
INT. DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Hannah runs into the dressing room. The freestanding mirror sits in the middle of the floor. Also on the floor are her clothes, and she starts to look through them, looking for her jeans......which she lifts up, then digs in the pocket, and pulls out...a photo of her with Frank and her mother. She gazes at the photo. At that moment, there is a noise from behind her. She looks up, and sees, in the reflection of the mirror, Clifton, running down the corridor towards her. With Clifton: we burst into the dressing room, which is now empty. Clifton freezes, then looks around. And the camera pulls back, to reveal Hannah, clinging on to the back of the large mirror, trembling. A moment - then Clifton moves on.
INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Silence in the kitchen. Bedford lies dead, torn to pieces. A cupboard creaks slowly open, and Jones peers out. He has been hiding. Trembling with fear, he crawls out...moves into the kitchen...peers out into the hall. It is empty. Jones starts running. Down the corridor outside the kitchen.
INT. FRONT HALL - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Jones runs into the front hall...And suddenly stops. Dead in his tracks. Jim is standing right in front of him. Jones looks surprised, wide eyed. His mouth opens, but no sound comes out. Pull back, to see: Jones has run straight into Jim's bayonet. Jones falls, taking the gun and bayonet with him. Jim steps over his body, and into the house...
INT. RADIO ROOM - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Jim runs through the radio room.In the break between two blasts of lightning, the room goes dark.When it is re-illuminated, Jim has gone, and Mailer and Clifton have entered.
INT. MANSION - STAIRS - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Jim runs up the stairs.
EXT. MANSION - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Henry walks into the front hall, where he finds Jones. Jones is lying flat on his back, mortally wounded, gazing up. Still alive - but only just. Taking his very last breaths.Henry kneels beside him, and Jones' eyes turn to his officer. He blinks, tries to speak, but is too weak and close to death to form the words. Henry's hand closes around Jones. Jones blinks once more. And dies.
INT. MANSION - CORRIDOR - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Jim runs down a corridor. He tries a door. Locked.
JIM: Hannah! Selena! He tries another door. Open. He runs through...
INT. CHILD'S BEDROOM - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: ...into a kid's bedroom. Jim moves a sofa to block the doorway - which, as it is moved, reveals......Bell, hiding, cowering, terrified. Foetal.
BELL: (whimpering) I don't have any bullets! I don't have any fucking bullets!
Mailer and Clifton outside try to force their way through, and the sofa jumps forwards an inch. An Infected arm flails through the half-open door. Jim leaves Bell, and climbs out the window. As Jim exits, the door to the room bursts open.
BELL: (screaming) Don't leave me!
EXT. LEDGE - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Jim climbs along the outside ledge, around the corner of the building. Behind him, we can hear Bell screaming as he is killed. Jim keeps going until he reaches the slope of the mansion's pitched roof. There, he finds a skylight window.
INT. MANSION - BASEMENT CORRIDOR - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Henry moves into a basement corridor. Then pauses. There is the sound of movement. An Infected howl. Then suddenly, pouring out from every door and shadow ahead, come a rush of Infected. Henry opens fire, a volley into them as he backs away fast......to a door, which he slams and bolts behind him.
INT. CORRIDOR - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Mitchell is holding Selena in one hand, and his gun in the other, dragging her down a corridor. The howls of the Infected fill the house.
SELENA: Hannah!
MITCHELL: Shut your fucking mouth! You want to get us killed?
Mitchell opens a door......which leads nowhere. The floor of the room through the open door is missing. And below, in the basement-level corridor, the space is full of the Infected. They look up at Mitchell, and Mitchell looks down at them. A vision of writhing Hell. They are a mass of faces and bodies. Some are appalling wounded. Some are half-dressed in ragged clothes. Some are naked.
MITCHELL: ...Shit.
He pulls Selena away, towards another door.
MITCHELL: In here! IN HERE!
INT. MANSION - BASEMENT CORRIDOR - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Henry is in the basement corridor, on the other side of the door he has bolted. Ahead, there is movement - rapid. Henry looks to the source, and sees: Clifton, running from the front hall towards him, clearly infected. No alarm registers on Henry's face. As Clifton sprints towards him, Henry remains still. Then, at the last moment he closes his eyes......and fires. Clifton is hit, falls. Henry opens his eyes.
INT. ATTIC - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Jim enters the skylight window, into an attic, positioned above the girls' bedroom. In the floor is a hole, and through it he can see Mitchell and Selena.
INT. GIRLS' BEDROOM - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Selena and Mitchell stand in the middle of the room. In the room are Selena and Hannah's bags, Selena's machete, lying by the side of the bed. She can see it, but......Mitchell is holding her tight. He has his gun trained on the door, facing away from the window.
MITCHELL: It's me and you, now. And I'm going to get you out of here, and then we're going to find some nice little fucking place, with a pretty little fucking garden, and...
Jim drops down from the attic. Mitchell turns, but is knocked off balance by Selena squirming out of his grip...then Jim is on him. With incredible viciousness, the power and savagery of the infected, Jim beats Mitchell to death. He smashes his head against the wall. Then he throws Mitchell to the ground, and jams his thumbs in Mitchell's eyes.
When it is over, Jim looks up. Selena stands, holding her machete. She is frozen by the sight of him. The blood on his face. The matted hair. He is the image of an infected. Jim stands and takes a step towards her. Selena remains, motionless, watching him approach. Then, just as he is about to reach her, her arm flashes upwards, holding the machete, to cut Jim down......but she hesitates. She can't do it. A moment. Then...
JIM: That was longer than a heartbeat.
SELENA: ...Jim?
Jim moves forwards, and kisses her. Simply. Hard. Then pulls back, leaving a trace of blood on her lips. Behind Jim's back, the door opposite, in the corridor, silently swings open.
SELENA: I thought...I thought you were...
Jim moves forwards, and they kiss. Passionately.Then Jim breaks off.
JIM: Listen to me. I've got to tell you - I've got to tell you. The world isn't fucked. It's going to be okay. We've got a chance, if we can get to...
Selena interrupts him, by continuing the kiss. And Jim responds.As, behind him, a small figure in a red dress slip into the room. Then a vase smashes over the back of Jim's head.
JIM: Ow!
He reels back, and Hannah is on him, jumping on his back, hitting him with her fists.
SELENA: Hannah! Stop! It's okay!
Hannah breaks off.
SELENA: He's not infected!
HANNAH: I thought he was biting you.
JIM: (holding the back of his head) I was kissing her! (breaks off) Are you stoned?
SELENA: It's a long story.
They are interrupted by the sounds of Infected howling.
SELENA: We have to get out of here.
INT. MANSION - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Jim, Selena and Hannah run out of the house, through the front hall, to the cab.Hannah gets in the driver's seat......and Jim yanks open the back door, ready to pile into the back only to find......Henry. Sitting on the fold-down back seat. Holding his gun.
HENRY: You killed all my boys.
Henry pulls the trigger - a single shot. Jim is hit in the stomach and falls backwards into Selena's arm.
SELENA: Jim!
INT. CAB - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: Hannah floors the accelerator.But instead of going forward, the cab reverses.
EXT. MANSION - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN:
HENRY: What...Hannah! Hannah?
The cab reverses fast, then Hannah slams the brakes. The cab slides to a halt. An Infected slams against Henry's window. At that moment, the back windscreen smashes. The hands of the Infected grab hold of Henry's head. Hannah watches, turned around in the seat. Henry screams - and we see it's Mailer's face behind him. Hannah floors the accelerator again, but this time in forward gear. Henry is sucked out of the back window.
EXT. CAB - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: The cab screeches up to Jim and Selena.Selena bundles Jim in, and the cab is off in a spray of gravel...
INT. FRONT HALL - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: As Henry is killed by Mailer, the silhouettes of the Infected appear in the shadows.
INT. CAB - NIGHT - HEAVY RAIN: The cab races towards the cast-iron front gates of the mansion - and we see they are locked with a chain and padlock.
SELENA: We're going to crash!
The gates loom. Hannah speeds towards them.
SELENA: We're going to crash!
JIM: Just fucking do it!
Hannah reaches and buckles her seat belt. Jim and Selena brace for impact...They hit the gates, hard. Jim and Selena fly towards the perspex divider. Freeze. Held.
FADE TO BLACK:28 DAYS LATER
FADE UP TO - EXT. FIELD - DAY: A green field, with three white letters laid out across the grass. Spelling: HELL
INT. FARMHOUSE - BEDROOM - DAY: Waking from a nightmare, Jim's eyes snap open with a sharp intake of breath. An echo of when we first saw him lying in the hospital. But this time, when we pull away, we see he is lying on a double bed, in the bedroom of a small farmhouse. Alone. But Selena's clothes are scattered. Jim rises. He looks around. Bright daylight is flooding into the room through the window.
JIM: Jesus. Not the curtains too.
INT. FARMHOUSE - DAY: Jim walks down the stairs and peers into a living room - where he sees the sofa, with its cover removed.
INT. FARMHOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY: Jim enters - to find Selena sitting surrounded by lengths of material which she is stiching together. He picks up a length of red material. Once part of the dress.
JIM: You looked all right in this, you know.
Selena ignores him. Jim walks to the front door and opens it. Pull back to reveal...
EXT. FARMHOUSE - DAY: A stunning view. A Lakeland valley, with a single farmhouse, and the black cab parked outside. Also outside is Hannah, who is arranging huge lengths of material on the grass. From our ground-level angle, there is no sense to be made of what Hannah is doing. And we keep pulling back...
EXT. LAKELAND VALLEY - DAY: ...fast, down the valley, along a single ribbon of road. Past a sign: Langdale Valley...Further, now over a mile distant from the farmhouse, then: Stopping, abruptly. At a single Infected, who sits, emaciated, in the middle of the road. A quiet moment with the starving emaciated Infected. It is so weak it can hardly move. Only blink.
Then, in the background, a distant rush of noise, the low roar of a jet engine. Slowly, the Infected turns its head upwards, where, in the clear blue sky, it sees: A vapor trail. A plane.
EXT. VALLEY - DAY: A silent bird's eye view, looking down, at the valley floor and the farmhouse. Where, outside, we now make sense of the stitched sheets and curtains, as they form letters on the grass below: HELL... But tiny figures are forming a new letter. An O: HELLO. Then, in the background, the sound of the jet, the rush of noise.
HANNAH: There! THERE!
CUT TO: Jim, Hannah and Selena look down the valley, where......screaming towards them, flying low along the valley floor, comes a jet plane. They stand transfixed as the plane races towards them. As it passes over, flying directly overhead, the terrific wash of air and noises whips around them, connected with a colossal sonic boom...The boom rolls away, and the plane has passed... Around Jim, Selena and Hannah, the sheets and material of the letters, ripped into the air, now spiral to the ground, falling around them.
JIM: Do you think he saw us this time?
CUT TO BLACK: The End.
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